Hell's Nuances
by ClassicLit
Summary: During an assassination attempt, things get terribly out of hand. Without killing the target, Reno is charged! How the hell does he get himself out of this one? With the help of a certian brat, perhaps?
1. Of Secretaries and Vertigo

**Hell's Nuances **

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII!_

**Of Secretaries and Vertigo **

He watched his cigarette grow shorter in between his fingers every time he inhaled. The red sparks consumed the tip as it came closer to his fingers at an alarming rate. He was leaning casually against the brick wall of a skyscraper, with his jacket slung idly over his shoulder. His feet were neatly folded in front of him, balancing his weight on the heels. The unpolished, black dress shoes contrasted with the grey concrete beneath his feet, making their tattered appearance more evident to an onlooker. His navy blue suit hung loosely around his form and the crumpled, white shirt underneath was unbuttoned down to his chest. His red hair rested around his face in utter disarray with rather long bangs hanging over his green, cat-like eyes. Two identical scars adorned his cheek bones on either side of his handsome face. The jagged marks burned a vibrant red, which contrasted greatly with the pale skin of his face, but matched the vividness of his hair. All in all Reno was quite a sight to behold.

He calmly finished his cigarette and after extinguishing the last sparks by rubbing the cancer stick into the dirty pavement; he made his sure way toward the entrance of the building he was so casually leaning on, up to that point while putting on his jacket. Before walking in, through the double doors, he turned around and looked up to the roof of a parking lot across the street from the skyscraper. He gave a half smirk and wink before disappearing into the said building. Even if an innocent bystander caught the action, they certainly didn't notice a bald man, on top of the parking lot with a similar smirk. That was, of course, planned because accompanying the bald man was a sniper rifle, which was pointed at one of the windows on the 13th floor.

Once in the building, Reno walked to the administration desk, situated off to the side along the left wall. Due to Reno's tremendous amount of luck, or the lack thereof, at the desk sat a young man. Reno was counting on a woman. That way, he could sweet talk her into getting him into the target's office without appointment. In case you are wondering…yes the Turks were ordered for an assassination. Surprisingly, this one was for the good of humanity (at least that's the way Reeve put it). Being, mostly, a very amiable character, it came as somewhat of a surprise for Reno and Rude to learn their assigned mission. Assassination and Reeve shouldn't have appeared ever in the same sentence, not to mention the fact that he ordered one. Reno had nothing to complain about, however. For most of his 23 years that was precisely what he did; and Rude didn't have much to protest to either.

Reno sighed to himself, knowing that the mission just became twice as hard. He rubbed the back of his head in hesitation before plastering on a casual grin and approaching the administration desk.

"Good morning." Reno rasped out leaning over the counter. Perhaps drinking the night before wasn't such a good idea.

"Good morning sir. How can I help you today?" Reno cleared his throat and looked back up at the man.

"I have an appointment with Carter. Gregory Carter." In all reality, of course, Reno didn't have any appointment. If he would it would look too suspicious that the aforementioned Gregory Carter would die on the same day as the meeting with a notorious Turk.

"May I have the name, please?" the man asked politely while pulling up the program to enter the data. Reno was not prepared for this that well, but did that ever stop him? Of course not. So, he found himself improvising.

"James…" the young man at the counter cut him off.

"Sigismund?" he asked. Reno nodded vigorously. _'If Rude heard this, he's laugh his ass off.' _ Reno thought. "And you have an appointment today at 12:30, is that correct sir?" the man behind the counter continued. Reno inclined his head in the positive once again.

"Alright sir, if you would proceed to the 13th floor, office number 109." Reno nodded and grinned his thanks. This was almost too easy, but Reno wasn't complaining. He wasn't exactly feeling up to any dramatic performances due to the amount of Bloody Maries that he had consumed the night before. In all reality, Reno needed to get into the office to get a paper that Reeve so much needed, not kill the guy…that was Rude's job. Reno, even though not caring much to start with, wasn't aware of what the contents of the said paper was.

Perhaps, at this time it would be a smart decision to explain to the reader the whole ordeal behind the assassination. A guy by the name of Benedict (out of all the guesses and rumors, no one actually knew his first name) decided to revive the Honey Bee Inn after the 'tragic' (coughsarcasmcough) death of Don Corneo, but extend it beyond simple prostitution. He spun out a whole company, not very unlike the former ShinRa, that put together a monopoly, which controlled most of the world's refineries. The new ShinRa distributed oil, and to get oil anywhere they needed refineries. In a way ShinRa almost depended on the Midgar's Finest Co. Refineries to be able to distribute oil to the public.

As opposed to ShinRa, which went for Vertical Integration (owning every branch in the process of getting and redistributing oil), Midgar's Finest Co. decided on Horizontal Integration (owning one branch of oil manufacturing). Benedict's company poked a rather deep hole in ShinRa's finances. Needless to say, this Midgar's Finest Co. needed to be eliminated. Reeve was not the type of guy, being the new president, to go for simply destroying a company because of a dent in ShinRa's seemingly perfect armor; but there was something that extended beyond simple competition. The schemes that went on behind what was the actual company were horrendous. Reeve didn't go into any detail on those when explaining the mission to Reno and Rude, but heck it was probably true. People were mysteriously disappearing and pronounced dead…oh and here comes the kicker: Honey Bee Inn has been getting more and more girls. Why? Because they were bought…under terrible conditions (to put it mildly).

Reno didn't concern himself with the half of it. How wrong he was to think that this wouldn't touch him.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The man at the administration desk watched Reno walk leisurely towards the elevator. There was a light cling, signaling the arrival of the said elevator and Reno disappeared from view. The man upon seeing Reno out of sight took the cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open, dialing a number.

"He's in." he said simply and after a moment of silence "Oh Carter is dead alright."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Reno walked towards office number 109 trying to clear his head. The sun shined too bright for his liking, the people were way too loud for his liking, his head hurt too much for his liking…_ 'I should ease on the drinking before missions.' _He thought for probably the fourth time that day.

He stopped in front of the accursed office door and rubbed his temples, sighed and burst through the door playfully.

"Oh Lucy I'm…" he started with a fake accent but the words died down on the tip of his tongue. The stench in the room was unbearable. Reno had enough experience to know that there was without a doubt a dead body in the room. He walked in stiffly and shut the door behind him to see a bloodied form of Gregory Carter, sprawled unceremoniously on the floor underneath the desk. There was nothing Reno could accept grab the black envelope that contained the information Reeve desired and bolt.

He jumped out of the office closing the door behind him. Immediately he started coughing and gulping in oxygen. The hallway was empty, and he was about to run, when he heard soft but definite footsteps moving towards the office. There was nowhere he could go to not seem like a suspect so he did the most 'logical' thing. He ran back into the office and dashed out the window to stand on the ledge. His form just disappeared out of the office, when a shrill scream was heard inside. _'Probably the secretary found the body.' _Reno mused to himself. His soon-to-be rant about how much he hated secretaries was cut short however when he saw where exactly he was standing. Yes, it is not a very well-known fact but Reno of the Turks was scared of heights.

He pressed his body up to the building, looking for the whole world as if he was just crucified. _'Don't look down…don't look down…' _he chanted to himself while trying to keep his gaze up. By doing so he looked up into the sunglasses of his companion. Rude stood up on the roof of the parking lot from his squatting position, clearly not understanding what exactly was going on. To that Reno managed a weak grin and a half-hearted wave. _'Why does this always happen to me.' _He thought while closing his eyes for a second. After reopening them and seeing that the scenery didn't changed he sighed lightly _'Well, it's not as bad as it could be.' _That moment a woman standing at the base of the building noticed the Turk and started screaming—

"He's going to jump!" she pointed to him wildly while other people started looking up with alarmed looks at the red-head. _'Yes, it is.' _ He looked up to Rude, but saw that the other stood there, shrugging as if telling Reno that there was no way out of this.

The police arrived soon enough, with a fire truck and ambulance. _'Oh this is just spec-fucking-tacular.' _Reno thought to himself as he saw almost the whole main street concentrate its attention on him. Reno looked about himself and saw a wide open window to the left. If he could only move to get into that office, everything would be great. So he slid at a snail's pace towards the window hearing 'don'ts' and 'hells' with every move he made. What kind of a lunatic did they take him for? Jumping off building? Even though, he did have to admit that he probably made for quite the interesting sight.

He mad it to the window without much nuance, but when he got there a familiar figure popped its head out to glare at him. It was, to Reno's chagrin, Reeve.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Reeve asked seriously. Reno got the distinct impression of a strict history teacher reprimanding one of his students.

"Taking a pleasurable walk." Reno drawled, putting the most emphasis the word pleasurable while rolling his eyes. He heard an exasperated yelp from Reeve and smirked. Even now he could get to Reeve…that has got to be some kind of a record for obnoxiousness.

"Reno…" Reeve started warningly.

"I…" Reno started, but was interrupted by the president.

"I asked you to get an envelope. All you had to do was…." Reno tried interrupting, but that didn't work because Reeve continued with the rant as if he didn't hear "get a goddamn envelope and bring it to me. Is that so much to ask for?" Reno again tried calling out his name, but Reeve was on a roll "Instead of completing this one simple assignment you…."

"REEVE!" Reno shouted throwing Reeve off his high horse. There was a small pause before—

"What?" Reeve asked agitated now putting his attention back on Reno. The other simply growled.

"It's cold, I have a headache, I can't see shit because of the sun, these people are getting on my nerves, I have a bad case of vertigo by this point, and can I please mention…" he made a small pause for dramatic effect "I'M STRANDED ON THE 13TH OF FLOOR OF A SKY SCRAPER ON A FUCKING LEDGE!" Reeve gave a nervous laugh and looked apologetically at Reno. "Get out of my way so I can get into the damn building." Reno grinded out while Reeve scampered out of the way. Reno got into the building with a sigh of relief and immediately relaxed into his laid back, casual position.

"Oh please, now you can continue." He said sarcastically while giving Reeve an agitated expression. Reeve sighed and shook his head quietly. Reno of course felt worse than he let on. Before Reeve could open his mouth so say anything else Reno collapsed on the floor. Reeve sighed again—

"I should remind myself never to drink and then go skydiving." He said to himself before a few people form the ambulance burst into the office in a huff.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Sitting cross-legged on the couch in front of her television Yuffie was mindlessly flipping through the channels. _'There has to be something good…right?' _she futilely tired convincing herself. She came to a news channel and decided to just stop there. If there wasn't anything interesting, she'd at least find out what's going on.

"In other news, a man tried throwing himself off of a building in downtown Midgar." Yuffie snorted to herself, before continuing to happily munch on her cereal. "This special footage was recorded earlier today." At that point Yuffie's limp hands let go of the bowl that fell to the floor with a clatter and spilling milk all over the carpet. _'Turk-boy?'_

_Hey hope you liked the first chapter. There will some mystery in this story as you probably already guessed and Yuffie and Reno will end up meeting and having to work together at some point or another - anyway tell me what you think. Please review. _


	2. Police Execution

**Hell's Nuances **

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII!_

**Police Execution **

_I hope you liked the first chapter, and I hope you like this one even better. It's the longest one I have probably ever written for a story on ffnet. Please review and tell me what you think so I know whether I should keep writing or not. Enjoy!_

Sensation first returns to the most inessential of places: the finger tips. Reno had the tremendous misfortune of finding that out more that once…first hand, no less. The Turk felt the sensation spread from the fingertips, running up his arms in waves and spreading throughout his lanky form. First it was his left arm, which hit the floor first when he fainted and was squashed under the red-head's weight, started hurting. Then it was his left leg, which bent in an uncomfortable looking angle when he lost consciousness, made its presence known. Of course, all of this was child's play compared to the headache that he received when he came to completely. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Reno was one unhappy Turk. And, as coincidence would have it, to top it all off he could hear rather annoying voices having a hushed conversation outside the closed door (as he observed after opening his eyes).

As the reader might have already guessed, Reno was in the hospital and for some odd reason they nurse or doctor decided to lock him in the room. '_Unbe-fuckin-lievable.' _He groaned and closed his eyes, laying his had on the pillow. He wanted to succumb to the lulling sleep calling him, but something very bothersome caught his attention. Remember the voices? Well, they were talking about him. Reno perked up and strained his hearing as best he could.

"Reno is not responsible for the murder." That was Reeve's voice. Even though it was hushed, Reno could hear the agitation quite clearly.

"Perhaps, he is…perhaps, he isn't. That's for the Court to decide." This voice was unfamiliar, and Reno gulped. _'Shit'. _The cops probably decided that he killed Gregory. _'Shit squared.' _

"I will not allow one of my employees to be missing from his duties due to your mistake." Reeve again. Normally Reno wouldn't be nervous about this situation. Rufus and old president ShinRa handled these cases with a rather large fee, and that would be the end of it. Of course, it also helped that the old ShinRa owned the police force and wasn't all politically correct like Reeve.

"It is not any of our business that your employer will miss work. He is a suspect and will be treated as one, regardless of how important he is to ShinRa." Reno huffed to himself. What were they going to do to him anyway? _'Ah right, throw me in jail.' _He thought sarcastically. Well…he wasn't planning on jail time, so for the second time that day he decided to be a total TURK and run away before they got to him. As long as Reeve would buy him more time, it'd all be good.

He jumped out of bed, forgetting about his pain, until it was too late. He landed on his left foot and almost screamed out in pain. The uncomfortable throbbing sensation while on the bed turned into a full-fledged pain when he jumped up. He stood there frozen in agony while giving the leg a very dirty look. If he moved, he was more than sure that he'd fall over. The conversation outside seized and Reno started cursing softly under his breath, thinking that he blew it. He gave out an inaudible sigh of relief when the agitated tones resumed their discussion.

Reno tiptoed towards his neatly folded suite, trying very hard to ignore the pain in his leg. _'Even MY OWN leg isn't cooperating.' _He thought idly to himself. He shrugged off his hospital gown with a bit of difficulty and put on his ironed suit. Can you believe this? He had to wait to get into a hospital to get his suite ironed. How long was he out anyway? Of course he didn't have enough time to think on the matter as he had more pressing issues to attend to. Such as, for instance, getting the heck out of here WIHTOUT running into the cop and Reeve.

For the second time Reno found his salvation in the accursed window. It was the only way out, and Reno hoped to god that he was on the first or second floor. He walked quietly across the room, to the sterile white curtains and pushed them slowly aside. To his utmost relief, he was in fact only on the second floor (which was coincidentally close to the ground). He opened the window, wincing as it creaked under the pressure and climbed out. Climbing out was not an easy ordeal either, he got his suite jacket caught on the ledge and while he was jumping down to the ground, the article of clothing kept him suspended in the air. The tail on the jacket, as it turns out, got itself in the nook between the ledge and the glass and Reno was left hanging like a rag doll. This, no doubt, did not please the Turk because he started wriggling himself free by taking out his arms from the sleeves as best he could; and before he could gloat over being free, he plummeted to the ground.

He landed ungracefully, on his ass, and swallowed a yelp of pain. He got up slowly, dusting himself off and rubbing his backside. _'I'm a lucky guy.' _He thought sarcastically, while rolling his eyes at how pathetic this day was turning out to be. _'All I need now is to be seem by a cop! That would just make my day all the more perfect.' _Reno kept up pessimistically while he walked out the courtyard. Unfortunately, he spoke too soon. He just barely made it to the main street when he saw two POLICEMEN looking rather intently in his direction. He prayed to all the divinities up there that these idiots didn't know they needed to take him into custody.

And again, as usual, fate was not on his side. As he was passing he saw the shorter one tap the tall, blonde guy on the arm and point in the Turk's direction. This was sign number one; so Reno, naturally, picked up his pace. The blonde, dumbass-looking one as Reno could see from the corner of his eye while passing, narrowed his eyes and gave the red-head a calculation look. This was sign number two; so Reno, of course, decided that a change in pace towards an increase would be in order. Reno didn't wait till the third sign. He heard a faint "Sir?" and broke into a sprint.

His leg hurt like hell and his arm didn't give up its persistent throbbing. He ran as fast as he could, looking back once in a while to see exactly how far the two were. It appeared that even with the damn leg he could outrun them rather nicely. He smirked to himself…that smirk widened considerably when he noticed a deserted looking alleyway at the end of the street. He pushed towards it, decreasing his speed as not to loose his 'followers'. With a few "get out of the way" and "watch it buddy" from the civilians he made it to the alleyway that he was trying so desperately to get to.

Not too long after he ran in, the two others followed him. They both stopped at the mouth of the alley with their guns already raised and at the ready.

"I heard that he's a Turk." The blondie whispered to the shorter guy as they walked deeper into the alleyway. The other gasped, but his dramatic performance was interrupted by a VERY amused voice.

"You heard right." It said. The two started looking around frantically. They couldn't see the owner of the voice. Of course, it didn't take a genius to figure out that it was the aforementioned Turk speaking, but no matter they simply couldn't locate the guy himself. There was a derisive snort coming from the left where the two cops turned with their raised weapons. It was a bit past 6, but due to the beginning of autumn it was rather dark outside, and the dimness of the alleyway didn't allow the two pathetic law enforcement agents any benefit. Reno, having Mako enhanced vision, took advantage of the situation.

He snuck behind one of the cops and placed a well-aimed kick to the back of the guy's left shin. The taller one, jumped at the sudden yelp next to him and because of sheer panic almost shot his own partner. The shorter man fell to the ground holding his injured leg while Reno went to work on the second sucker. Reno jumped in front of the blonde cop and slipped his own gun from behind his belt, courtesy of Reeve. With cold calmness Reno pointed the gun at the two shaking officers. With trained ease he removed the two guns from their trembling hands. _'Is it just me or are the standards for becoming a cop lowered by the minute. Not that they were ever a very bright and skillful bunch.' _ He smirked at the memories of his escapades with police officers. Those included quite a few misdemeanors and federal offenses with a grand entrance and exit. Leave it to Reno to be glamorous while committing crimes. After returning to reality and giving the two police officers a once over, he understood what the problem was.

"How old are you two?" He asked genuinely curious. The two still stood frozen as poles so he decided to give them a gentle nudge. "You better talk because I'm trigger happy 24/7." Well, perhaps the nudge wasn't as GENTLE as he intended it to be.

"E-e-eighteen, sir." The taller once stuttered out and Reno turned to the shorter once with a questioning gaze.

"Ss-seventeen, sir." The other answered. Reno nodded to himself. No wonder they were so bad at this. They didn't have any experience or brains, by the looks of it. He sighed to himself, as the headache made itself known one more time.

"Alright then ladies, here's what we're going to do." Reno leaned in and continued whispering with a mischievous note to his tone.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&2 hours later

Reeve could only sigh and try to hide the smile that threatened to brighten his face and the otherwise somber mood. He was loosing the battle miserably. There were more than a few occasions that one person or other would comment on his read face and the fact that he hid his mouth under his hand more often than 'usual'; reason being the sight before him.

Remember the two, unfortunate, cops that ran after Reno? Well, the 'sight' refers to them. And what a 'sight' it was. They were sitting on the floor of the alleyway, back to back and their hands were handcuffed to each other. Their belts were tied to keep their legs together, all in all, doing a good job on constraining any movement. Their guns were at a teasing distance away from them; close enough to WANT to reach, but farther than they COULD reach. The identical expressions on their faces were priceless. They were in between horrified and indignant. On the wall of the building behind them was a rather huge sign written in coal, that Reno probably found lying in the alleyway.

_Good example of why police officers can't do shit for society…and should be executed! _

There was an arrow pointing down at the two pathetic-looking police officers.

Reeve didn't have to be informed that this was Reno's doing. He would have recognized the red-head's handy work from anywhere. Reeve also was impressed by how nicely secluded the area that Reno picked was. Working on improv…this was in fact quite an impressive set-up. Reeve snickered quietly to himself, again drawing a few strange looks from the said backup crew. He faked a cough and waved them off.

The fact that Reeve and the cops even found this place was a complete accident. The cop decided to storm the room where Reno was SUPPOSED to be still sleeping, but when he went in, obviously, there was no one there. To Reeve that didn't come as much of a surprise. After all, he exaggerated Reno's injuries, just to buy the red-head time and get the heck out of the hospital. After seeing the jacket, dangling out the window the cop raced out the door and into the courtyard, followed by a pretend-shocked Reeve. Some nurses apparently saw the two young officers take after the Turk and pointed down the street into the general direction of the chase. The chief immediately called for back-up and the search began. After about 2 hours they did find the place. Let me STRESS the point: it took TWO HOURS. Reeve would have to agree with the obnoxious note on the wall.

Reeve shook his head and pushed off the wall to talk to the chief, who looked more and more livid by the second. A rather un-Reeve like smirk spread over the president's face.

"Mr. Stanton?" Reeve got the captain's attention. "I am truly sorry for all the trouble and I wish I could stay" he made a pause and gave Mr. Stanton an apologetic look "but I do have work." He shrugged his shoulders at the end of that.

"Go right ahead then president. I will be contacting you soon enough." The other replied with a sneer and a confident expression. Reeve nodded and started walking away. _'Jackass' _He thought quietly to himself as he made his way down the street towards his car.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Reno made his way to his apartment with little trouble. The public transportation system that Reeve put in was actually paying off. He took a long shower and dressed in a new Turk uniform that he got perhaps three days ago. He sat down on the couch and began brooking. What the hell was he supposed to do now? The cops were after him….especially after the incident in the alleyway. The only logical thing was to prove that he wasn't guilty. How the hell would he do that? Reno was not used to proving his innocence. He was almost always guilty and almost always ShinRa would cover his ass. He sighed and leaned back, sliding into a half lying position on couch.

He couldn't help but smirk when imagining the reaction of the cops when they found the two youngsters. He could almost imagine the shocked/indignant/insulted look on their faces. He chuckled to himself. _'YEAH FOR RENO.' _He chanted in his head and started snickering. Trust Reno to find something funny with the situation that he was in. He closed his eyes with a content sigh and started falling asleep; but the peaceful picture was interrupted by a loud knock on his door. Reno jumped to this and winced at his left leg. _'Perhaps, the ordeal in the alleyway was pushing it.' _

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Yuffie was packed up and ready to go. After the morning and the rather interesting report about Reno she decided that she didn't want to watch TV…ever, in case she ran into something like that in the news. She was sitting on her bed and checking over her materia before leaving. I do apologize; you probably want to know where she was going. It was Shera's birthday and Cid organized a surprise party for her in Midgar. All of the AVALANCHE members were invited and she was very much excited about seeing everyone again.

She smiled to herself when she saw that all her materia was in place and properly organized. She grabbed her backpack and was on her way out the door. Before leaving, however, she noticed that she completely forgot to turn off the TV and unless she wanted her father to bitch at her for an extended about of time she'd better turn it off. Yuffie dropped the backpack at the entrance of her house and sprinted back to the television. She grabbed the remote and started searching for the power button. When finally getting it, she was about to turn off the TV when another report caught her attention. There on the screen was Reno's picture.

"….this man is a suspect in the murder case of Gregory Carter…" Yuffie tuned out the annoying voice of the anchor. _'What the hell has been going?' _The picture on the screen changed form Reno to 'news coverage'. There Yuffie saw the two police officers and what Reno did to them not too long ago. She tired holding it in, she really did; but she burst out laughing nonetheless. She never much liked the Turk, but she had to admit; he could provide for decent entertainment. She shook her head and turned off the television. _'I'm going to Midgar…I'll probably find out what happened soon enough.' _She snickered to herself, remembering the two police officers.

It was already late evening, close to 9. She liked traveling at night because that meant she could sleep and not worry about her motion sickness. She would take the cable car to Kalm and from there hike to Midgar the next morning. She was, secretly, very grateful that Staniv made her plan out her schedule rather than doing everything by the moment. With that thought she was out the door with the backpack hanging over her shoulder.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Reno looked at the clock on his wall, it read 9 pm. Smirked to himself counting down how long it took them to track him down. _'3 hours…they should be executed.' _His musings were interrupted by another knock.

"We are here to make an arrest, sir. Please come out with your hands raised." Reno shook his head to himself. Did they actually think he was going to just come out with his hands raise? Reno automatically went for the window, but then froze. _'Elena said that an apartment at the bottom would be more convenient, but noooo I just had to get the one on the top floor. AH...the irony.' _He winced when knocking persisted, louder this time.

"Sir, we will be forced to break down the door if you don't open it." What else was there to do? He turned off the light in his apartment and went into his bedroom, sitting calmly on the bed. He heard the front door being broken down and he sighed. He liked his door. He carefully loaded his gun and put it next to himself.

Three armed men bust through his bedroom door and pointed their weapons at him. Thinking that he resigned himself to the fate that was jail cell, they went straight for him.

"You have the right to remain silent…" one of the men began moving towards Reno with his hand cuffs at the ready. Reno smirked arrogantly up at him and picking up the gun that he none of the police officers noticed, put a bullet, point blank, into the guy's skull.

After the shot an unnerving silence spread over the occupants of the room. The two other cops froze in their tracks. Reno didn't waste any time. He jumped up and pitched his weight forward, making one of the guys take step back. This allowed Reno the leeway to take a step forward and disarm the other, still frozen, occupant of the room with a kick to the hands. The gun, as expected, fell to the floor with a clatter, and Reno turned his attention to the guy in front of him. If Reno spent more time on looking at the fallen gun, he would have ran a big chance of getting his head blown off. The police officer, still with the gun in his hands pointed and fired right at Reno. The Turk's eyes widened marginally and he dunked under the shot. The red-head watched the shot blow a hole through his new mattress and his SILK sheets.

"Those cost a fortune." Reno screeched indignantly. Being thrown off by this and no understanding what exactly Reno was referring to, the guy who fired the shot forgot to recharge. Reno turned around with a murderous look on his face and lifting up his gun didn't hesitate to shoot the guy who ruined his bed. The second one, finally gaining control of his senses, launched for the discarded weapon, but stopped when he felt metal at his temple.

"Nah-ah." Reno said playfully while kicking the gun, which the man so desperately wanted to get his hands on, farther away. "What's your name?" the Turk continued in the same casual tone.

"George." The other replied now looking at Reno in a way that said 'don't kill me'. Reno shrugged and put away his gun.

"Well, George, we are going to play a game." The man's eyes widened as the same thing happened to Reno's smirk.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

As Reno expected there were other cops standing outside the building. They were looking around with alert looks on their faces, waiting for an ambush, which was in fact coming. They saw a man in a Turk uniform leave the building quietly heading to the right. One of the cops noticed this and started shouting for them to run after him. The man broke into a run with his jacket flying behind him in the wind. The three guys outside as well as the driver took after the man screaming for him to stop the whole time. The chief didn't think to send more than 7 people after Reno…after all Reno was after all only one person. They ran after him and caught the Turk right as he was about to run into an alleyway. One of the guys tackled him, cuffing the hands behind his back while reading the Turk his rights. When the both of them got up and the guy in the Turk uniform was turned around, to the horror of all 4 people it was George.

"Fuck." They said almost in unison.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Meanwhile, Reno leisurely walked out of his apartment building and started his trek to the cable car station. There was a safe house in Kalm that he remembered. He might as well go there, for the lack of better options. With that in mind, he was on a cable car within 20 minutes and making his way to Kalm.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

It was 1 am and Yuffie just got out of the cable car at Kalm. The station was pretty much deserted. There were only a few bums sitting around and the few passengers were walking around sleepily. Yuffie not having gotten the chance to sleep, because she DID get sick on the trip, jumped out f the cable car excitedly. _'Freedom from that oppressive thing!' _She smiled to herself and was about to walk off when she noticed a rather bright color moving her from the corner of her eye.

"Excuse me. Do you by any change know what time it is?" she heard a male voice ask behind her. _'Why does he sound so familiar.' _She whipped around and who should she come face to face with?

"BRAT"

"TURKEY"

The two disheveled travelers shouted upon seeing each other. _'Oh man this just keeps getting better and better.' _Reno thought with a groan.

_I hope you liked this chapter. Please review!_


	3. Partners in Crime

**Hell's Nuances **

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII!_

**Partners in Crime**

_Thank you so much for the reviews and I hope you will enjoy this chapter as well. I would like to ask that if it is of no inconvenience that you please review and tell me what you think of the story. It would really help me if I knew what I was doing right and wrong. Any constructive criticism is welcome and if you have any ideas or a particular direction that you want this story to go, please don't hesitate to tell me. (Responses to Reviews are on the bottom). Enjoy!_

Time seemed to freeze as the two stood rooted to the spots that they occupied for the past minute. _'Oh this is simply wonderful.'_ was the only thing running through Reno's head. _'Of all people it had to be the loud-mouthed brat that I run into.' _He groaned and averted his gaze to the ground with an exageratedly pained expression on his face. Yuffie rolled her eyes at the gesture.

"I am going to pretend like we did not meet." she said with a smirk on her face, leaning closer to the jaded Turk. "Because I don't want my reputation ruined by hanging out with criminals." Reno growled and stuck out his tongue childishly.

"And you think that meeting a snotty princess just makes my day?" he asked sarcastically, as Yuffie's face lit up with a smile.

"Of course it does." she answered cheerily with a feral grin. Reno regarded her coolly for a moment and then—

"You have a spider on your head." he said casually, folding his arms over his chest. Yuffie snorted.

"No better comeback, eh Turkey?" she asked teasingly with her arms automatically flying to her hips. Reno stood there for a moment longer, again regarding her silently.

"There is a spider on your head." he repeated, this time betraying his amusement with the whole situation. Yuffie huffed, now getting agitated. She ran her fingers through her hair—

"See there is nothi..." she froze as her fingers collided with something solid. Something solid that was not her hair band. She smiled nervously, almost afraid to move her hand. "I have a spider on my head don't I?" she asked Reno, who was having a hell of a time keeping his expression neutral.

"Took you long enough, brat." The smirk that was slowly forming on his face was finally noticed by Yuffie. She forgot about the spider for a second and rounded on the red-head.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Reno made a tsk sound.

"Oh but I did. You just apparently have trouble hearing...or listening..." He pulled up one of his hands to tap his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe you have ADHD; ever thought of getting that checked out?" Yuffie gasped as the spider, apparently tired of being ignored, started moving. Reno saw everything in slow motion: the sharp in-take of breath, the distressed expression, and the tragedy that was bound to happen. Before he knew it, an ear splitting scream was heard from the petite girl in front of him. He winced at the sound almost bordering on ultra-violet while covering his ears as best he could. _'FUCK! All that was missing was a busted ear drum.' _He thought bitterly.

"Get it off, get it off, get it off!" Reno couldn't take it anymore. He grabbed one of her arms that was searching for the spider on her head, and pulled it down forcefully. He then proceeded to fish out the damn tarantula-look alike thing from her hair. He grabbed the damn spider and chucked it as far away from the shaking Yuffie as he possibly could.

Once he saw that the spider was a safe distance away from them he wheeled back on Yuffie.

"What do you think you are doing?" he whispered harshly. "As you have mentioned you are standing next to a fucking criminal! Do you want to alert all the cops in the surrounding area of this fun fact?" He glared daggers at her, as she huffily pulled her wrist out of his death grip. She opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by another male voice from the duo's left.

"Is everything alright?" Two guards, dressed in blue uniforms, were standing next to the entrance of the train station. The two cops seemed to have come out for a smoke from the inside of the station, seeing as Reno and Yuffie were situated in the outside section. Reno snorted bitterly. _'Brings me back to my earlier statement. Cops don't do shit for society. The damn girl was screaming her head off not too long ago and they leisurely strode in and ask if there's a problem! Sorry ladies, if you're getting raped you're screwed...literally.' _he thought sarcastically as he rolled his eyes at the two 'blue' guys.

Yuffie seemed to have been thinking along the same line because the next thing Reno knew he saw her come up to the two guards and start screeching at the top of her lungs.

"Is everything alright? IS EVERYTHING ALLRIGHT?" she mocked them. Reno shook his head with a helpless look. He shrugged his shoulders, making sure to get the massage across that he couldn't control the crazy teenager. "I could have been raped, I could have been killed, I could have molested, I could have been mugged. I was screaming at the top of my lungs for Chrissake; and you waltz to the scene and ask me if everything is alright?" She let out an exasperated growl and turned away from them with 'death' written all over her face. She walked up to Reno and started pushing him in the direction opposite of where the two cops stood with bewildered, if not flat out frightened, expressions on their faces.

"Get your Turkey ass moving." She said, while Reno was barely able to keep his balance after a rather violent push. Unfortunately for Reno and Yuffie, however, she pushed him right into the street light that illuminated the Turk from head to foot. She didn't pay attention to it, but Reno sure as hell did. Upon noticing who this red-headed companion of the ninja was, the two cups drew in jagged breaths and automatically took out their weapons, assuming a defensive stance. _'Not again.' _Reno groaned inwardly at what he was sure was about to come. And certainly, the two cops took a few steps forward, approaching the receding duo.

Upon hearing footsteps, Yuffie whirled around and was about to give them another, extended, lecture; but she promptly shut her mouth. The guys in blue were standing in front of her with two dangerous-looking guns pointed at her face. Reno turned around slowly as well. As much as he'd like to bolt, he felt sorry to leave the brat in the position she was currently in. He could afford to do her the courtesy and knock out two guys.

"We would like to see your document please." One of the cops said in a fake polite tone. Yuffie sighed and went to search her backpack. Reno smirked as he knew that he didn't have his documents on him. In fact he didn't have anything on him at the moment, except for the suite.

Yuffie's motions became rather frantic over time. She went through all the possible pockets in her backpack…twice. She didn't come up with her documents. _'Shit, shit, shit, shit I know I had them.' _She chanted to herself, while going through the pockets yet again in hopes of finding the accursed documentation to prove her identity…but no such luck. _'Where could they possibly be?' _she pondered quietly, while searching the pockets of her jacket and pants. Suddenly, a very disturbing picture flashed through her mind and she froze. She could have shot herself at that moment. Her documentation was left neatly put together, next to the TV remote in her house.

She laughed nervously and looked up. The cops, however, being more concerned with Reno's identity than hers, didn't really bother even sparing her a glance. She breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she was off the hook. Oh how wrong she was.

The cops turned their inquisitive looks to Reno. He just stood there, casually, as if not a care in the world.

"Sir, may I please see your documents?" The same one spoke up again. Reno straightening up, clearing his throat, assumed the most innocent look possible.

"I don't think you need to see them." She said with a smirk on his face. "My name is Reno….you know, like they guy that you are meant to uh… 'hunt down'." That phrase was complete with a pompous puffing out the chest and hand quotation marks for emphasis.

"Sir, we would have to put you under arrest." The other cop said curtly and turned to Yuffie. "And you as well for assisting with the crime." Reno couldn't hold in the bout of amused laughter as Yuffie's mouth literally dropped open. She started sputtering as the cop started reading them their rights. _'This is definitely NOT the way I was anticipating my day to go.' _She thought bitterly while shooting the Turk a nasty glare. The other shrugged his shoulders before preceding to drop kick the blue-clad man closest to him, knocking him out as the poor man's head hit the concrete. Yuffie for her part did not waste time delivering a rather nasty kick to the temple of the other guy and knocking him out as well.

Reno stood frozen over his respective victim for a moment. All the warning he got in that moment was a loud growl and a swoosh of air as a foot almost collided with his abdomen. It luckily missed, though, as he danced out of reach. Another round-house came flying towards him almost immediately following the earlier assault. He didn't get out of the way this time though. He stayed rooted to his spot under the roof of the station while catching the leg of the nuisance that stood just beyond the reach of the aforementioned roof. Speaking of the nuisance, Yuffie all but growled and started struggling with trying to reclaim her leg. As she though in the beginning that didn't work.

"If you are done…" she heard a drawl in front of her, form the source of her current frustration. Seeing the resigned look on her face, Reno continued "I don't think your criminal ass would want to stay here much longer brat. I say we get the heck out and go our separate ways, shall we?" Yuffie started struggling again.

"Criminal? ME? You are the criminal. The stupid cops just decided to call me one for no damn reason!" she tried to reason. Reno's amusement with the whole situation didn't seem to be fading with her exasperation. She was about to comment on the fact, but two rather unfortunate things happened at the exact same time. The first was that it started raining. It wasn't just a little drizzle, it was a full out downpour of rain, complete with thunder and lightning. The second thing was that she heard a groan coming form one of the cops. _'Shit they're starting to wake up.' _She though frantically before turning to the smirking Turk.

"You aren't going to assault my poor little self anymore are you princess?" he asked looking at her with fake, innocent puppy eyes. She glowered at him again before waving that off. She was wet, and now cold…she didn't care enough to beat the crap out of him just yet. There was one problem with him letting go however. Being tired of standing on one leg, Yuffie decided to distribute her wait equally between the leg that was situated on the ground, and the one that was in his hand. After he abruptly let go, she went plummeting down to the ground and landed into a quickly forming puddle, on her ass, with a splash.

She glared up at him, through sagged hair and from her current position. No one can really blame Reno for sniggering at the sight….it was truly one of quite the comic value. He composed himself soon enough though, and extended a hand to help her up. She completely ignored the kind gesture and after jumping up onto her feet decided to take a little detour away from the Turk…to the left. Reno looked at her quizzically before deciding that she is going to kill him if he doesn't say something quick.

"Hm..hm.." He cleared his throat officially. She stopped and turned around with an already forming glare. "I though you'd like to know, princess." He drawled with smirk. "The exit is that a way." she said pointing over his shoulder in the opposite direction of where the ninja was headed.

She scowled and rushed past him towards the exit into town. He turned around and followed her slowly, taking his time. After all, they both knew as well as anything that now they were in it together. After the cops mistaking her for an ally and her knocking them out for it…there was really not much she could do to twist out of that. All that was needed now was to prove his innocence and they were both home free. Reno groaned at the thought of spending more time with the brat than he absolutely had to. This was going to be an interesting side mission. _'If I don't die, or get put in prison…it's pretty damn safe to say that she'll kill me.' _

TO BE CONTINUED

_Thank you so much for reading. Sorry about this chapter. To get Reno and Yuffie somehow working together, one of those sort of filler information chapters had to be done. Thank so much for your patience, because the real fun stuff will begin next chapter and you'll get to find out everything about this new organization against ShinRa. R&R _

Kairi 3SoraKH2Namine 3Rox... : Thank you so much for your review. I am sorry, it completely slipped my mind to respond after the first chapter. Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoy the story.

Suzu Kitamura: Thank you very much for your review, and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the story. Oh and if it goes the way I planned there will be plenty more Reno-Cop interactions


	4. Newscaster Should Die

**Hell's Nuances **

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII!_

**Newscaster Should Die**

_So sorry for the late update. Hope you can forgive me, I'll try not to let it happen again. It's just that our history teacher is the devil incarnate himself and gives us more homework than any other. Ooooh and here's the kicker: we have to write a term paper and do three presentations after having taken the AP. So sorry, ENJOY!_

Yuffie walked wordlessly through the train station. It was just her luck! She should have thought! She should have explained that she was in no way affiliated with the Turk. She definitely should NOT have flown off the handle and knock one of the guards out. She sighed quietly to herself. Too bad she couldn't replay the moment. Things would have turned out differently. As the situation stood now, she could hear the light shuffling of the feat coming from in front of her—one guess who those belonged to—heading towards the exit. Maybe, once they got out of the station and got some fresh she could think clearly and come up with a solution to this problem…that did NOT include traveling with the devil incarnate himself. 'Tough luck.' She snorted humorlessly to herself.

Reno, being ever the gentlemen, failed to remember the fact that Yuffie was still walking behind him and instead of holding the door for her let it lose. Unfortunately for the poor Yuffie, she wasn't paying enough attention to see the action. She walked head first into the swinging door, falling back on the hard floor of the building. Reno having heard the soft thumb turned around to see the source, and you can imagine his infinite 'shock' when he saw Yuffie glaring at him from the floor. Yuffie jumped to her feet and headed determinedly for the door. Upon swinging it open she stopped in front of the Turk and gave him a sugar-sweet FAKE smile.

"You are sooo paying for the hotel." She said sweetly before walking past him, towards the aforementioned hotel that he would apparently be paying for. He was more than happy that his suits had inside pockets. He didn't need a wallet to make sure that his money won't fall out and fly everywhere. He would have liked to argue with her, not so much for the issue of paying as much to annoy her, but he was tired (and the fact that it was his fault she was in the situation she was currently in definitely played a part).

He headed into the hotel after her, making sure to avoid the door that was unceremoniously slammed in his face. He sighed and reopened the door, following the teenager into the establishment. It was a dimly lit lobby, with cigarette smoke everywhere. 'Good. I need a fucking smoke.'

He could see Yuffie bounce to the counter and the smiling clerk. He followed obediently after her.

"What can I help you with tonight?" the clerk asked cheerfully. Reno rolled his eyes at that. 'Add clerks to the growing list of people I hate!' He made a mental tally as the cheer fell rather abruptly from the young man's face. Reno squinted his eyes at the hopes of seeing the source, but he didn't have to do that. After glancing over everything with the immediate area once he found out exactly what was bothering the guy behind the counter.

The young man was watching Yuffie dangerous-looking shuriken rather intently with a worried expression on his face. Reno smirked 'So the brat IS good for something.' He though amused.

"I would like two rooms please." Yuffie said with a bit of frustration evident in her voice. Apparently, she wasn't one for pleasantries at this hour of the night either. The clerk plastered a fake grin back on his face immediately and went to search for the requested rooms at his computer.

"So what makes you think I have money?" Reno asked Yuffie conversationally. He was tired...he really was, but that doesn't mean that he would pass a perfectly legitimate opportunity to torture the brat. "I am a convicted criminal after all." He made sure to drop his voice so no occupant of the smoke-filled lobby could hear the last phrase. Yuffie, unfortunately for the duo, was not as careful…or perceptive.

"Well, you know what Mr. Convicted Criminal you should have though about that BEFORE dragging me into your problem." She said sarcastically…and rather loud. Alright, it was VERY loud. Loud enough for all the occupants of the room to hear her. Reno could have slapped his forehead, or rather slapped her instead.

A hush fell over the whole lobby. All the friendly and idle chitchat seized immediately after the words Convicted Criminal left Yuffie's lips. Reno leaned into Yuffie as she winced at the comprehension of what she just did.

"You've done it again brat. Congratulations!" he said sarcastically before sighing. Maybe, he could just kill her and leave her to rot in an alleyway somewhere. Ha, wishful thinking. Reeve would have his head considering the tie between ShinRa and Wutai that was established after Meteor. He turned to the rest of the room and continued casually.

"And what could possibly cause such an abrupt ending in your delightful conversations." He drawled at the shocked people sitting in various places around the room. Yuffie picked up on his game and turned around with a lighthearted smile herself (after clearing the "I'm a dumbass" expression from her face).

"Surely, it couldn't have been anything we said, could it? I was a bit too loud I must admit." She gave them an apologetic grin. "Sorry." She mumbled out. _'Ha so the brat has brain…that's a surprise.' _Reno thought, rolling his eyes at the train of thought. Most of the people in the room, convinced that it was probably a joke, turned back to their conversations.

Of course the relief was short-lived, the news came on. Yuffie was starting to really hate them. These damn reporters would shut p right now if they knew what's good for them. These 'damn reporters' however didn't hear the silent threat and therefore went forward with the report on Reno once again…and the fact that he was a criminal. _'Obituaries…start listing Mr. Jackass over there.' _Yuffie though maliciously, and for information's sake the title of Mr. Jackass was actually describing someone other than Reno: mainly the newscaster.

At the moment of silence that followed the end of the report Reno quickly gained control of himself and casually leaned over the counter towards the clerk.

"It looks like we won't be needing those two rooms anymore." He said cheekily and started out of the hotel. By the time he got to the door he was already running with Yuffie following close behind. Reason? The clerk was already dialing the police. _'And it continues.' _Reno thought bitterly as he and Yuffie ran as fast as their feet would carry them. Shouts of 'stop them' and 'the police will be here any minute' accompanied the grand escape.

He made to the city gates and past them without a backward thought, but once outside the city it hit him like a ton of bricks (catch the cliché?). He was getting farther and farther away from the safe house. This was rich. What the heck was he supposed to do now? The fact that he had the brat to take care of now and the fact that he was headed for a thick-looking forest didn't help matters much.

Yuffie caught up to him just as he slowed down to a stop after entering the aforementioned foreboding-looking forest. He turned to glare at her. She just single handedly deprived him of the bed that he was so wishing for!

"Umm…sorry?" she asked him with a pseudo apologetic wave of the hand. Reno threw his arm up.

"Do you have a brain?" he asked her as if absolutely serious. "Can you think?"

"Well…not duh!" Yuffie replied sarcastically, making herself sound like the retard that Reno was making her out to be.

"I personally, don't think so." He mumbled tiredly under his breathe. Yuffie smartly stayed quite. It was her fault that the both of them were now stuck in a middle of a forest, at night, with it starting to rain after all. She sighed and looked apologetically at the red head.

"So what do we do now?" Reno looked at her quizzically for a second before deciding that his grudge won't help matters.

"There is another safe house that I know of…" he started, trying to think of the location of the promised safe house. "I think it's close to Mideel just on the outskirts." Yuffie gave out a defeated sigh.

"Well, there's no way we're getting there by tonight." Reno raised an amused eyebrow at that.

"And who's to blame for that inconvenience?" He asked her in a matter of fact manner. Yuffie all but growled at that question.

"I said I was sorry." She said waving the whole thing off. Reno smirked.

"Oh so you DO admit your at fault?" He asked pompously while puffing out his chest. Yuffie wasn't exactly paying attention to him anymore however. She was a bit…preoccupied.

In his shenanigans Reno didn't notice a green lizard making its slow, but sure way towards the duo. Yuffie, trying to avoid looking at him, looked instead in the exact direction of the said lizard. The monster looked rather easy…shouldn't take too long, but there was a big problem. One look at its fangs told Yuffie all she needed to know. They were poisonous.

Reno noticed that he was not the center of attention and looked questioningly at Yuffie. It didn't take him long to figure out what she was staring at. Sure enough he could see the overgrown lizard hissing not six feet away from them. Yuffie started backing away slowly as not to make any sudden movements. Reno took the unsaid advice and proceeded to do the same.

"You know the police officers don't sound as threatening anymore." Yuffie whispered as not to distract the seemingly content to stay in place lizard. _'Not that they were much of a problem to begin with.' _Reno thought fondly of what happened the other day.

"Hm…" he started slowly "do you think black or brown matches me more?" Yuffie raised an eyebrow at that.

"I know you're vain Turkey, but if you don't keep that mouth of your shut, there won't be anything left to be vain about." She said lightly, wincing as the lizard looked straight at the frozen two.

"You're one to talk princess. S'not like you shut up when you need to. But honestly, black or brown?"

"Would you like to enlighten me" Yuffie answered back sarcastically "why you need to know that now."

"I still have time to write a short note on what color I want my coffin to be." Reno responded conversationally. Yuffie snorted.

"I don't know about you, but I want mine to be red." She said definitely.

"Why red?" Reno asked making a face at the color.

"I saw Vinnie's coffin. It was a nice crimson on the inside. I think I should have coffin that's ALL red."

"You hang out with your idiotic friends too much." Yuffie smirked.

"Vinnie's not idiotic….oops actually he is he was a Turk after all." Reno scowled.

"Aha who couldn't stay away from Hojo." Reno drawled. Yuffie let out an indignant squeak of protest but was cut off by an attack from the green monster that picked that exact moment to surprise the arguing pair. _'Life can't get any better.' _

_Sorry to leave at a cliffhanger! I will continue this as soon as possible. As soon as my devil history teacher stops giving us 25 pages of writing for homework! _

Anarchy's Ashes: Thank you for the review. And I hope you feel better…umm you probably already do due to the fact that this update is sooo late!

Suzu Kitamura: Thanks! Umm…you know I'm not one for romance, but I might include some. Actually, if there will be some romance, it won't come 'till the very end so you have lots of time to decide and tell me what you think!


End file.
